Saudi Arabia's 'Um Haroun' Ignites Arab Debate on Jews and Israel

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ben Hubbard

The actors Souad Ali, left, and Hayat al-Fahad, in a scene from “Um Haroun,” a popular Arabic TV drama airing over Ramadan. Al Fahad Establishment, via Reuters

BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a mud-walled village in the Persian Gulf, a Christian woman sheds tears of love for a Muslim merchant. But he is stuck in a miserable marriage to a woman who longs for another Muslim man. But she can’t have him, because he is crazy about the local rabbi’s daughter. These tangles of interreligious intrigue unspool in a new blockbuster television series that has set off heated debates across the Arab world about the region’s historical relationships with Jewish communities and the shifting stances of some of its current leaders toward Israel. The show’s creators and distributors insist it has no relation to contemporary Arab politics. [More]